Former England manager Ron Greenwood has died after a long illness. Frank Malley pays tribute to him.

Ron Greenwood was not a man of the world. Not, at any rate, in the sense of Sven-Goran Eriksson. There was no chance of Greenwood being linked to sex scandals, nor of being lured by barrow loads of money.

No chance either of Greenwood, who was England manager for five years between 1977 and 1982, being pumped for secrets by a fake sheikh. Absolutely no chance of him revealing any indiscretions.

Greenwood, whose death at the age of 84 was announced yesterday, was a football manager with old school principles yet blessed with a vision for beautiful football.

He possessed the ability to improve a footballer in the manner an astute trainer might turn a promising racehorse into a classic winner.

Example?

Transforming Geoff Hurst from an agricultural wing-half at West Ham into the centre forward who won the World Cup for England with that famous hat-trick back in 1966.

Years later Greenwood, grey and increasingly frail, accompanied Hurst to a match at Upton Park and was refused entry into the Ron Greenwood Lounge by a steward who did not recognise him.

In his attempts to intervene on behalf of the man who really was `Mr West Ham', Hurst received the withering putdown from the same steward: "And who are you then mate, Geoff Hurst?"

Such is the fleeting nature of football appreciation.

The vast majority of West Ham fans, however, would recognise Greenwood as the man who made Upton Park synonymous with dynamic, entertaining football during his 13-year reign from 1961 to 1974 after which he became general manager until 1977.

While many football teams of the 1960s and 1970s turned to pragmatism and a cautious approach to the game Greenwood stuck to his principles - silky, cerebral football.

It did not always work and West Ham were often required to play championship-winning football in the last weeks of the season just to survive. But they did win the FA Cup in 1964 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and were many people's favourite second team.

They might have done even better if Greenwood and his captain, Bobby Moore, had been able to build a more harmonious relationship.

It was not that they did not respect each other. Greenwood was apt to describe Moore as the best player in the world. He also refused him a £2-a-week pay rise.

Moore once described Greenwood as "the encyclopaedia of football". But he also despaired at the eyes which glazed over in the dressing room when Greenwood was giving his pre-match team talks.

Moore believed Greenwood pitched his ideas at international level - over the heads of most journeymen professionals in club football. "In his prime without question he would have made a tremendous England manager," Moore once said.

"Perhaps an even better manager of England than Alf Ramsey."

As it was Greenwood took the England role after the debacle of Don Revie and only after the FA had got cold feet about appointing Brian Clough.

The hands of Greenwood proved safe if a little uninspiring, although he is the only England manager apart from Ramsey to finish a World Cup final tournament unbeaten, his side reaching the second group phase in 1982 when only the top team went through.

England drew 0-0 with West Germany and Spain and it might have been different but for injuries to Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking.

He hated the Press almost as much as he abhorred the football hooliganism of the time and once ordered a battery of TV cameras out of the England HQ before a match in 1981.

He was reserved, prickly even, rarely seeming to enjoy the fruits of his endeavour.

Indeed, in his authorised biography, Moore could recall only one time ever seeing Greenwood emotional - on the train journey home from Hillsborough after West Ham's FA Cup semi-final victory against Manchester United in 1964.

With the party in full swing Greenwood stood at the bar savouring the result, but even then looked around at the sea of unfamiliar faces and remarked: "We've got this far without these hangers-on. We don't need these people."

A churchgoing man, he was dedicated to his family and never understood the need for drink and over-exuberance.

He preferred the straightforward. It was the thrust to everything he held dear.

"Football is a simple game," he once said. "The hard part is making it look simple."